TALK TO THE DADDY

Hello. Come on in. The daddy writes about current events, literature, music and, once in a while, drops something on you from back in the day to make you pause and ponder, stop and stare, and begin to wonder. Who knows? You may start to pace the floor, shake your head from side to side, then fall down on bended knees in a praying position and cry, "Lawd, have mercy! What is this world coming to?" Check yourself! But this blog is NOT about the daddy. It's about you: your boos, your fam, your hood, your country...our hopes and dreams of a better tomorrow. So let's make a pact: the daddy will put it on the track if you'll chase it down and hit him back. Together, we can definitely take it to another level. Shall we?"

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The Freddie King Blues Fest: Dirty Dancing, Flirting and Mournful Hurting

"If heaven allows music (which I don't know why It wouldn't) then you must be having quite a jam with Hendrix, Albert, Stevie, and other legends of Blues, and those who played the Blues like a legend. I hope you have complete happiness and content wherever you are."
-anonymous note left at Freddie King's grave on August 16, 2008.


September 3rd is the birthday of Freddie King, one of the greatest blues guitarists of all times. Every year he is honored in Texas. September 3 is proclaimed "Freddie King Day." And every year "The Freddie King Blues Fest" is held in Dallas, Texas. The last blues fest held a few days ago (August 31, 2008) featured two great blues legends, Bobby Blue Bland, blues singer and Hubert Sumlin, lead guitarist for the great Howlin Wolf. Here's a story about the festival:

Freddie King Blues Fest: Dirty
dancing, flirting and mournful hurting

by Thor Christensen/The Dallas News

"He was flirting with a woman who was dirty dancing near the Granada Theater's stage. But he was also summing up the 5th annual Freddie King Blues Fest: It was a night of aging legends trying to prove they've still got it.

Mr. Bland was the perfect headliner for the four-and-a-half hour tribute to Mr. King, the Dallas blues ace who died in 1976. At 78, Mr. Bland has to sit while he performs, but the Memphis-based singer still had plenty of gas in his tank.

Moaning and sighing and uncorking his signature snort, his voice grew stronger as the show unfolded into the wee hours of Monday. When he opened for Van Morrison at the Meyerson Symphony Center last year, he barely got going before it was time to say goodbye.

This time, backed by a brassy seven-man band, he gave fans a wide-ranging set packed with hits ("I Pity the Fool," "Farther Up the Road") and well-chosen covers such as Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine." But the showstopper was "St. James Infirmary," the timeless blues piece about love, death and bad habits. Instead of camping it up like other artists do, he slipped into a falsetto and dug straight into the mournful abyss."

For the full story click here on King. ----------------------------------------

1. Freddie King; official website. 2. Freddie King: general info. 3. Freddie King: good biography. 4. Freddie King: another good biography.

3 comments:

Somebodies Friend said...

Yes He did!

Cause I was there! ;)

rainywalker said...

Sounds like the blues are alive and well in Texas and Freddie King is smiling somewhere.

Mac Daddy Tribute Blog said...

somebodiesfriend: I heard that Bobby Blue Bland was fantastic but Hubert Sumlin, the guitarist, was disappointing. What did you think of the show?
rainywalker: Texas has sure groomed some great blues guitarists, beginning with T. Bone Walker, perhaps the greatest blues guitarist of all. But there's Lightnin Hopkins, Albert Collins, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmie Vaughn, Johnny Copeland. And that's just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. If you ever want to hear him, just check him out on YouTube. My favorite is the video is "Have You Ever Loved a Woman?"